Sip extension and building regs

Karenmrks

2 questions...

1) Has anyone had a sip extension done please and if so, can I have your honest opinion on it? We are looking to have one and join as part of our kitchen as ours is currently quite small!

2) If we don't open up the sip extension into the main house initially and keep the external doors separating the space, do we need building regs or is this just needed as and when we knock down the wall to make one big room.

I would appreciate any experiences and advice. I will be looking into this abit more next week but I always find forums really informative too!

stuart45

You need to get Building Control involved from the start to inspect foundations etc.

FreeBear

stuart45 said:

You need to get Building Control involved from the start to inspect foundations etc.

And depending on size & location, planning permission may be required.

Doozergirl

I'm not sure why you'd want to build without building control approval.  Building work is expensive, you may as well do it properly. 

I live in a SIPs house that we built.  It's absolutely brilliant. I would do the same over and over again.  

MysteryMe

I've been in a micro home that was built using SIP as they wanted a home that had high thermal qualities and low build costs.  It was not much larger than a shipping container but really well done.

You can devalue and damage your property by undertaking significant building works that cannot be shown to be of required standard. It's a false economy not getting building control involved from the start.  As others have mentioned you may need planning permission as well.  Even if it comes within permitted development you still need to make an application to the council.

FreeBear

MysteryMe said: It's a false economy not getting building control involved from the start.  As others have mentioned you may need planning permission as well.

Due to recent changes in legislation, councils now have up to 10 years to serve enforcement notices for both planning and building reg breaches.

weeg

SIPs are brilliant, but are just another way of forming a building and you therefore do need building control involvement 

ComicGeek

Unless there is a real advantage in shaving a few days off the frame installation, I would always prefer a site built timber frame over SIPs. I work on around 300 new build timber framed houses each year - each project gets looked at in terms of SIPs vs site built timber frame, and I haven't seen SIPs come out favourite for at least 4 years... 

There can also be a wide variety in SIPs quality, the quality of insulation used, detailing of junctions etc. Not to forget also that everything needs to be agreed a long time prior to installation, and not easy to make any changes once it's up. Also need to pay a lot of money upfront and hope the manufacturer doesn't go bust before they deliver it - as a few large suppliers did fairly recently....

For a small extension, I can't see any benefit in using SIPs. You can just build a timber frame on site for the same overall thickness, at a cheaper price and with more flexibility.